Muhammad Ali Boulevard Sign in downtown Louisville, Kentucky. The street was renamed in Muhammad Ali’s honor in 1978. A Louisville native, Muhammad Ali was born Cassius Marcellus Clay Jr in 1942. He would go onto become a professional and Olympic boxer, winning three world heavyweight championship, with a record of 61 fights, 56 wins (37 wins by KO), and 5 losses. His most famous fights included those with Sunny Liston, Joe Frazier, and George Foreman, including the historic boxing event the Rumble in the Jungle, that took place with Foreman, in Kinshasa, Zaire, in 1974.